As society becomes more and more spread out, the need for automated systems and methods for efficiently and equitably routing orders, data and communications from one location to one of a possible plurality of locations is evergrowing. Further, businesses that are widely spread out need an efficient method of generating referrals or reciprocal business orders. The florist industry provides a good example of such a need. There are many florist shops located across the country. Consumers often wish to send flowers, plants, or other gift items to people located in a different city. Presently there are several ways in which such an order can be completed.
One common way is simply for a customer to call or visit a nearby florist with an order to be delivered in a different locality. These orders are accomplished when the local florist (the "sending" florist) telephones the details of the order to a "delivering" florist (situated in the locale of the recipient of the order) who fills the order and delivers the flowers to the recipient. This process is time consuming because the local florist usually consults a large directory of florists provided by a wire service organization of which it is a member to obtain the telephone number and coding information of the delivering florist.
There are presently six such wire service organizations Florist Transworld Delivery Service, Redbook, Carik, Teleflora, American Floral Society and Florafax. Each of these wire service organizations acts as a "clearing house" for transactions between its members. Transacting orders through these wire service organizations requires the delivering florist to take the time to fill out a report of "incoming wire orders" and send this to the appropriate wire service organization to obtain payment for the services rendered. This process is also costly because the various wire service organizations charge a significant commission for their services in acting as a clearing house among the various member florists.
Some florists may attempt to generate referral or "reciprocal" orders by placing costly advertisements in which acknowledgment is made of the willingness to reciprocate business to florists who favor their shop with deliverable orders in the various membership directories published by the wire service organizations. The process is further encumbered by the substantial lag between the time an order is processed and the time each delivering florist receives payment. This is due to the fact that the wire service organizations generally send monthly or bi-monthly statements and settle their bills at that time.
Some florists may subscribe to the Mercury Network, which is owned by the Florist Transworld Delivery Service ("FTD"). The members of the Mercury Network rent computer terminal equipment from FTD and use this equipment to send and receive orders and other communications. The main difference between the manner in which florists complete orders using the Mercury Network and the manner of completing orders described above is that orders are transferred by use of a distributed network of computer terminals instead of by telephone. The equipment is costly, takes up valuable floor space, is cumbersome to operate and does not allow direct personal contact between the sending florist and the delivering florist. This lack of personal contact makes special design, handling or delivery instructions difficult to accommodate.
Since there are more than 40,000 florists in the United States today, florists lack a practical and efficient means for reciprocating orders. Except for major cities, it is unlikely that a delivering florist will generate an order for the sending florist's delivery area within a few days after the referral. Also, because the average florist receives between 25 and 40 orders each week from florists outside his delivery area (in addition to their other local business), it is difficult for a small business such as a florist to record all orders which were received from sending florists. The vast majority of florists are very small businesses and they do not have the time nor the resources to maintain a cross reference of all business referrals. For these reasons, the average florist will simply consult a membership directory (from one of the major wire service organizations) to accomplish an outgoing order.
Alternatively, consumers may order flowers through "Flowers Direct", a company which provides a direct telephone connection between the consumer and the delivering florist by means of AT&T's "INFOWORX" service. Subscribers to the Flowers Direct service pay significant amounts of money each quarter in the hopes that the company's advertising and toll-free telephone service will generate new business referrals. With this type of service, the telephone call is relayed by AT&T to the florist in the zip code nearest the recipient
There is also a service called "800 Flowers" provided by a company which advertises its toll free number and acts as a "sending only" member of FTD. In this situation, the company takes the order at its computer center and then relays it through the FTD system, keeping a large commission for its efforts. Most florists do not have the resources for the advertising that is required to take advantage of such a marketing approach.
Automated systems exist as well for selecting a location to receive particular data. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,818 discloses a computerized food order/delivery system by which a computer at a central location is programmed to receive customer orders and transmit particular order information to a predetermined particular store. This patent does not disclose, however, a system which directs orders based on a reciprocity principle. Rather, the store to receive a particular order is chosen simply based on the location of that store in relation to the consumer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,858 discloses a method and system for enabling a large number of consumers to place orders for goods or services with a data terminal. The users of the system are provided with hand-held terminals on which they may enter a supplier and a particular item to be ordered. After such data is entered, the terminals may be connected to telephone lines over which the order information may be sent to a local processing center. The orders are then routed to the appropriate supplier. This patent does not disclose, however, a system which directs orders based upon reciprocity among those sending and receiving orders. Rather, orders are directed to the supplier, which the consumer chooses on his or her data terminal.
What is, therefore, lacking in the art is a system and method for enhancing and ensuring reciprocity in the sending of orders among florists, and also a more efficient method and system for routing data and communications and making payment settlements. Such a system and method would ensure that merchants who are located in or who serve a specific area receive reciprocal (incoming) orders in proportion to their sending activity and in relation to the sending activity of other florist members who are located in or who serve the same specific area.